Book of the Forgotten
by Dark-Celeste
Summary: A Neverending Story fic Fantasia is in trouble again! Bastian is too old to come to Fantasia, so Moonchild must call out to his son. Read to find out more!


Disclaimer: The Neverending Story belongs to Michael Ende, however Lenne and Seth are my own creation.  
  
A/N: I wrote this for a school assignment (like my watership down fic) and my teacher really liked it. And there aren't many Neverending Story fics out there so I thought I'd add this. Also, I think the version of Mr. Koreander is the one from the movie, I think in the book it's Coreander, but I like it better my way. So anyway if you like the fic, great, and if not, that's fine. Just be sure to review, good or bad! Thanx!  
  
The Book of the Forgotten  
  
Blood covered the ground, staining the barren land a ruby red. It's coppery scent was thick in the air, as well as the smell of burnt flesh and charred clothing. It was excruciatingly strong, and made Lenne feel like keeling over, only to find she couldn't move. The world spun around her, swirling and spinning like a top. A bright flash blinded her, and white-hot pain burned behind her eyes.  
  
Lenne shot up in her bed, frantically looking at her surroundings. Once she had calmed down, she wiped her face on her arm. Sweat was still pouring down her face, though she felt chilly. Her griffin, Saraiya, ruffled her golden feathers and tucked her head further into the warmth of her wing. Carefully, Lenne stood up and walked to her window. Tucking her long brown hair behind her ear with a shaky hand, she opened the shutter on her window. It was still dark outside, the stars shining in complex constellations above the land of Fantasia. She could see Moonchild's Ivory tower. It glowed reassuringly, but Lenne still thought of her dream. "It was so vivid," she murmured. "What could it mean?"  
  
The twelve-year-old girl sat on her windowsill 'til morning, then she pulled on her hawker's glove and she and Saraiya walked along the river to the tower. The intelligent immortal looked at her and cocked her head to the side. Lenne understood and answered, "She'll be there, I know it."  
  
~~  
  
Just as she had predicted, the former Child-like Empress, now Moonchild, was sitting on her bed, patiently awaiting her favourite cousin's arrival. She had known she would get a visit today.  
  
"Good morning, Moonchild," Lenne formally greeted, bowing respectively.  
  
"No need for such formalities, my cousin. We are kin."  
  
"Alright." Lenne thought for a minute. "You know why I'm here, do you not?"  
  
"Yes. You had a disturbing dream."  
  
"I saw a bloody battlefield, and smelled burning flesh and cloth. It was Fantasia, but it was barren, without beauty whatsoever. But there were not bodies. Just hard, flat stained ground, and a black, empty sky."  
  
Moonchild frowned, her beautiful yet childish face troubled. "It is as I feared. A new threat has found it's way to Fantasia. We are in need of Bastian's assistance."  
  
Now it was Lenne's turn to frown. "But isn't he too old to return to Fantasia?"  
  
"Yes. Have hope, all is not lost. Bastian has a son. He has told him stories of Fantasia. He is your age, and is growing up."  
  
"And he still believes?"  
  
"For now, yes," Moonchild answered quietly. "He needs to give this threat a name. I will draw Seth to the book."  
  
~~  
  
Walking along the sidewalk on a busy street in Toronto, a boy's eyes were drawn to a peculiar store. It was a bookstore, and each book seemed to have acquired a fine layer of dust. Seth hesitated, the pushed the unlocked doors open. Going about carefully, as not to knock over anything, he made his way around the shelves, searching for the storekeeper.  
  
A head popped up from behind a cluttered desk at the back of the store. "Who goes there?!" he barked out, his spectacles sliding off his nose. His grey hair was combed neatly to the side, and bushy eyebrows shadowed his eyes, making him look more humourous than angry. Seth was at a loss for words, so the man spoke again. 'You, boy! Is your father Bastian Balthazar Bux? You look just like him, but less chubby."  
  
"Yes!" Seth exclaimed, astonished. Then realization struck him. "You're Mr. Koreander! My father told me all about you and The Neverending Story!"  
  
Mr. Koreander stroke his fine mustache. "Did he now." he said thoughtfully, more to himself than to Seth. "And I suppose you want to read it yourself?"  
  
"I-I hadn't even thought of it!" Seth stuttered. Bastian had told him how protective Mr. Koreander had been of the book. "I just sort of felt a sudden pull that brought me in here."  
  
"I see. Well perhaps you should read it." Mr. Koreander thought back to the last few days. The symbol of AURYN had been glowing strangely, and he took it as a call for help.  
  
"Really? I mean, you'd let me?"  
  
"I don't see why not. It could be helpful." Mr. Koreander dug through a desk drawer with amazing vigor for a man his age. A few minutes later he held up the fruit of his search. It was a large, old-looking leatherback with a symbol of snakes underneath the words, 'The Neverending Story". Seth recognized the symbol as AURYN, the Moonchild's medallion, for his father had once sketched it out for him.  
  
"Take good care of it," Mr. Koreander said gruffly. "And be sure to bring it back when you're done!"  
  
"Yes sir!" Seth quickly promised before rushing out, eager to get to the safety of his room and open the book.  
  
~~  
  
"He is on his way," Moonchild announced to Lenne, moments later.  
  
Seth appeared before them, dressed in his earthling clothes, with an dumb-founded expression on his face. AURYN hung around his neck, glinting in the light of the Ivory Tower. He marveled at the pearly white glimmering walls of the tower. Then he laid eyes on Lenne and Moonchild.  
  
"You-you're the Child-like Empress! Or Moonchild, I guess it now is!"  
  
Moonchild smiled gently. "Yes, I am Moonchild, and this is my cousin Lenne, Princess of the Bow and Warrior of Fantasia."  
  
Seth looked confused. "But I thought the warrior was Atreyu?"  
  
"A lot of time has passed here since the defeat of the Emptiness. I do not grow old. Atreyu has passed on into the Other Realm, or Heaven, as I believe you call it. We have had time to grieve, and now we must face our new enemy with a new warrior. You must name our threat."  
  
"What sort of threat?"  
  
Lenne described her dream to the boy. "The part I do not understand is the bloody ground, for there were no bodies in sight."  
"I think I already know the name," Seth informed them solemnly. "I have heard adults in my time complain about how video games have been affecting children's minds. It's the Barrenness."  
  
Moonchild spoke up, her words full of wisdom. "When people's minds become barren, they lose all emotion, all insight and sense. I think the Barrenness is trying to start a war."  
  
"And then the Barrenness eats up all the bodies, so everything is truly barren," Lenne finished.  
  
"We've got to stop it! Are you coming with me, Lenne?" As she nodded, Seth noticed the bird perched on her shoulder. "Is that real?"  
  
"Of course!" Lenne exclaimed, indignant. 'Her name is Saraiya. She's a griffin."  
  
Wide-eyed, Seth reached over to touch the soft, golden feathers on Saraiya's head. The griffin eyed him carefully, and leaned forward in acceptance. "She's so soft!"  
  
~~  
  
They left on their journey shortly after with barely a clue of what to look for. "Let's go to Rock-Eater," suggested Lenne. "Maybe he's heard something." So they took off in the direction of Rock-Eater's land.  
  
He was there, but Lenne noted the absence of his adolescent son. "He went rock-foraging farther north with some others. Got some real delicacies up there." When they told him of their predicament, Rock-Eater shuddered. "Horrible," he said. "No rocks! But I think I can help you. The Book of the Forgotten is said to be able to do almost anything. Maybe that's what you're looking for."  
  
"Where can we find it?" asked Seth.  
  
"Hmm." Rock-Eater placed his hand on his massive, rocky face causing small boulders to tumble down. "An abandoned city south of here, called Meru. Some say it's still there, waiting for it's true beholder.  
  
"South? How far? How will we get there?"  
  
"Falkor," Lenne said firmly.  
  
~~  
  
In no time they were flying in the clouds, on Falkor, the luck dragon's, back. They saw an enormous city looming up before them, it's spires piercing the sky. It was beautiful, yet obviously no one had lived there for years.  
  
"Why doesn't anyone live there?" asked Seth, puzzled.  
  
Falkor answered him. "Long ago, thousands of people lived there. It was known as the city of peace and tranquility. Over time the citizens grew more and more quarrelsome, as well as selfish. They deceited each other and acted in spiteful ways. This angered the city's goddess-the goddess of love- and she banished everyone from the city. Her promise that the city would remain an empty ruin has held true throughout the years-until today."  
  
When they reached the gates of the city, a bolt of lightning struck the ground before them. A voice-one that seemed would be quite pleasant on other circumstances, boomed out, "Who dares enter the forbidden city of Meru?!"  
  
A beautiful woman, with a fair face, intriguing violet eyes and slim figure appeared. Her flowing golden-blond hair hung in tendrils around her face. "Ah, I see. Falkor, the luck dragon, Lenne, the warrior, and Seth, the earthling. You seek the Book of the Forgotten, correct?" She looked each of them straight in the eye. "Your souls are pure. I shall let you pass. You will find what you are looking for in the Palace. Go now."  
  
After murmuring their thanks and bowing, they entered Meru. Seth found that the city was even more radiant inside. Everything shone, and the towers seemed to absorb the sunlight, forever preserving it. Even Lenne was impressed, though, forever loyal, she told herself the Ivory Tower was better.  
  
Just as the goddess had promised, the Book of the Forgotten lay unopened, undisturbed on it's pedestal in the Palace of Remembrance.  
  
"Go on," Falkor urged when Seth hesitated. "It's waiting for you."  
  
Seth slowly walked up the gleaming pearl staircase to the pedestal. Once there, he examined the book. It looked no more special than the Neverending Story had. The words 'Book of the Forgotten had been embroidered on in gold silk. Carefully, ever so carefully, he picked it up.  
  
"What?" Seth cried out in confusion. He felt no different, nor did the book. "Are you sure this is it?"  
  
Lenne laughed, but not maliciously. She was merely amused at Seth's naïve reaction. "Expecting fireworks, were you?"  
  
Falkor brought an end to his confusion. "Maybe because the Barrenness has not reached her, it will not do anything yet. What will happen, will happen."  
  
"Oh."  
  
Suddenly a gusty wind blew in through the Palace's open doors. They ran outside, only to come face to face with the Barrenness. It had eaten away the rest of the city, leaving a gaping, endless prairie before them.  
  
"It's here!"  
  
"Quick Seth! The book!"  
  
In desperation, Seth flung the book open. Before he could blink, he found himself in complete and utter darkness.  
  
"Lenne! Falkor! Where are you?"  
  
A bodiless laugh echoed in Seth's ears. "I am everywhere, yet nowhere. I exist because the children in your world are being wiped clean of any imagination until their minds are as bare as a tundra. They are forgetting how to dream, how to imagine. I am the result. It is MY dream to begin a war between your world and Fantasia!"  
  
"No! I can't let you do that! You can't make people destroy each other! They've done nothing wrong!"  
  
"Doesn't matter now," The voice boomed. "It is too late to stop me! Chaos will strike and prevail!"  
  
The voice continued on it's rant, each loud, powerful word intimidating Seth and shrinking his confidence.  
  
A beam of light shot up from the pages of the book Seth was holding, stopping the voice in mid-sentence. It swung violently, shining a white light every which way, renewing his confidence. It encouraged him, building his power. With a deafening roar, the darkness was pulled away, sucked into the book. Fantasia appeared as if a dark veil had been pulled from it. Lenne was on the ground, unconscious, with Falkor at her side.  
  
"I'm still here," the voice taunted. "You have merely pulled away my mask of despair! You cannot get rid of me!"  
  
"Wrong! This is the Book of the Forgotten! You can be forgotten just as easily as Fantasia!"  
  
"Just how do you plan to get me in that book?"  
  
Seth clutched AURYN tightly in his hand, thrusting it towards the plain. Like the book, from it shone a ray of light. It erased the Barrenness, and the city of Meru just how it had been before, took its place.  
  
"AURYN has the power of wishes. I WISH YOU WERE FORGOTTEN!"  
  
Angrily, the voice screamed out its rage. The ray of light from AURYN wrestled with an invisible foe, until with a whoosh of wind and one last agonized scream, it was sucked into the book.  
  
Seth breathed a sigh of relief. Cautiously he looked at the pages of the book. They depicted a pitch black sky above an empty plain. He shut the book quickly, unwillingly to risk an escape.  
  
"What happened?" Seth asked Falkor. "Is she alright?"  
  
"She was knocked unconscious when you opened the book. She should be fine."  
  
"Of course I will," Lenne spoke up softly, lifting her head. "We've got to go tell Moonchild."  
  
They flew back to the Ivory Tower on the white luck dragon, admiring the land of Fantasia. They saw the Ivory Tower standing proudly in the valley amidst a flowing blue river. The story of Moonchild and Fantasia was truly neverending.  
  
THE END  
  
A/N: Tell me what you thought of it! I know some parts seem to drag on or rush by, but that's because it was for school, ya know? Anyway, please review!!! 


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